The present invention relates generally to utility meters, and more particularly, to utility meters having the flexibility to perform various different types of metering functions for the consumption of a particular commodity.
Utility meters are devices that, among other things, measure the consumption of a utility provided commodity, such as electric energy, gas, or water, by a residence, factory, commercial establishment or other such facility. Utility service providers employ utility meters to track individual customers"" usage of utility provided commodities. Utilities track customer usage for many purposes, including billing and tracking demand for the relevant consumed commodity.
The basic operations of a utility meter can be viewed as logically composed of measuring operations and registering operations. The measuring operations convert commodity consumption signals that are provided by sensors coupled to the commodity being metered (such as, for example, electrical energy) into basic commodity consumption data (such as, for example, watthours, volts and amperes) which is indicative of a utility customer""s commodity consumption. The registering operations process the commodity consumption data into particular billing and/or diagnostics formats (xe2x80x9cmetering informationxe2x80x9d) which can be used by the utility and the customer.
A particular set of registering operations for a utility meter may be thought of as a particular xe2x80x9coperating modexe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cmetering modexe2x80x9d for the meter. For example, one set of registering operations typically includes reducing the commodity consumption data into a time-of-use format, while another set typically presents the data in a demand-type format. In these cases, the utility meter could be thought of as operating in either the time-of-use xe2x80x9cmodexe2x80x9d or the demand xe2x80x9cmode,xe2x80x9d respectively.
Historically, a utility meter""s operating mode was fixed in electromechanical hardware, such as an arrangement of rotating disks, driven by signals produced in the measurement circuits of the meter. The typical electromechanical register required markings on its electromechanical hardware which provided a visual readout of commodity consumption data in the format of the desired metering mode. For example, a meter which was set up to operate in the time-of-use mode could include as many as twenty-four different rotating disks, one for cumulatively registering the customer""s commodity consumption during each of the twenty-four hours of the day over a given period of days.
Early electromechanical registers were integrated parts of the overall meter assembly, which made reconfiguration of a meter from one operating mode to another undesirably costly and wasteful. Moreover, in general, all electromechanical registers require utility providers to employ field technicians, or xe2x80x9cmeter-readers,xe2x80x9d to visit customers"" facilities and visually read the commodity consumption data from the registers.
An advance in the art was replacement of the integrated electromechanical registering arrangements with removable, modular electromechanical registers. The modular electromechanical registers provided meters that were somewhat more xe2x80x9cconvertible.xe2x80x9d That is, the operating mode of such a meter could be changed by removing one electromechanical register and substituting a different one which was capable of performing the newly desired operations. For example, a demand-only register could be removed and replaced with a time-of-use register. An example of a removable modular electromechanical register is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 5,014,213 to Edwards, et al. Modular electromechanical registers reduced the costs and waste associated with reconfiguring meters to operate in different modes.
A further advance in the art was the development of fully electronic registers. These electronic registers employ electronic hardware, such as solid-state devices and memory circuits, to register commodity consumption data without any moving parts. As a result, electronic registers provide increased accuracy and lower life cycle costs as compared to electromechanical registers, while maintaining the feature of removability.
With regard to the ability to alter a meter""s operating mode, the electronic register allows alteration of metering parameters and operations within the meter by merely reprogramming the register. As discussed above, meters may be configured to measure energy consumption in several ways, including using the total energy consumed, recording the highest demand over a certain interval, or by multiplying the energy consumed by a factor determined by the time of day. Moreover, meters may be configured to track voltage, current, power factor (a measure of the phase angle difference between voltage and current) and other parameters. The electronic register allows a meter configured to track energy in one manner to be reprogrammed or reconfigured to track energy in a different manner.
Such capabilities are particularly useful as customers have more opportunity to choose between multiple utility providers. As competition in the utility service provider industry opens up due to deregulation, customers will have greater flexibility to select among both utility providers and the way energy consumption is measured. As a result, meters may require changes in functionality with a much greater frequency than in the past.
One example of an electronic register that may be converted between various modes of metering is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,315,235 to Atherton et al. (xe2x80x9cAthertonxe2x80x9d). Atherton shows an energy meter having a table driven operating system utilized in register component applications. The operating system coordinates the task execution sequence and priority of major tasks to be executed by the register component. The tables are a form of indirect addressing to respective software routines which control operation of the register component to perform respective tasks in a predetermined order. A different set of tasks are executed by changing the operating mode of the operating system. Thus, Atherton shows a meter that can be converted from one operating mode to another without interchanging either an electromechanical module or an electronic module.
One potential scenario that Atherton does not address is one in which multiple parties desire energy consumption data in different formats. In particular, due to the relatively high economic and ecological cost of electricity consumption, it is often desirable for non-utility parties to monitor the customer""s energy usage. Such information may be used to optimize energy usage by the customer. For example, customers may analyze their energy consumption data to determine how to schedule certain operations in a manner that decrease energy costs.
To accomplish this task, customers have historically employed separate meters. In particular, customers and/or other parties analyzing energy usage often employed separate power monitor devices in addition to the utility""s meter. Such power monitoring devices have significant cost, and require additional access to the power lines, and further occupy a significant amount of space in the customer""s facility.
Indeed, with deregulation of the electricity utility service providers, it is more likely that multiple parties would desire the ability to track electricity consumption of a single establishment. Such parties may include electricity suppliers, electricity brokers, consultants and consumers. Each party would preferably have the ability to configure the meter in its own desired way.
Accordingly, there is a need for a utility meter that allows multiple parties to obtain energy consumption data regarding a facility without incurring the equipment, space, and convenience costs associated with the installation of a separate power monitor.
The present invention fulfills the above needs, as well as others, by providing multiple virtual meters in a single meter. More particularly, the present invention provides multiple virtual registering operations which are logically connected to a single measuring operation. To this end, the meter according to the present invention includes a processor that generates, contemporaneously, first metering information using a first set of parameters and second metering information using a second set of parameters. Thus, for example, a utility service provider may define a first set of parameters to carry out its preferred revenue metering operations while the customer may define the second set of parameters to carry out its preferred power monitoring/metering operations. Both sets of operations preferably use the same measurement data. In this manner, multiple users may perform custom metering operations on the same physical meter using the same measurement data.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a utility meter which provides multiple concurrent registering of commodity consumption data includes a source of commodity consumption signals, a measurement circuit, and a registering circuit. The source of commodity consumption signals is coupled to provide commodity consumption signals to the measurement circuit. The measurement circuit is operable to generate commodity consumption data from the commodity consumption signals. The register circuit is operably coupled to the measurement circuit to receive the commodity consumption data therefrom. To this end, the register circuit includes a memory and a processor. The memory stores a first set of parameters corresponding to a first metering mode, and a second set of parameters corresponding to a second metering mode. The processor is operable to generate first metering information by performing a metering routine a first time using the first set of parameters and the commodity consumption data, generate second metering information by performing the metering routine a second time using the second set of parameters and the commodity consumption data, such that the processor generates the first metering information and the second metering information on a concurrent basis.
The above discussed features and advantages, as well as others, may be readily ascertained by those of ordinary skill in the art by reference to the following detailed description and accompanying drawings.